By Tom Maston

The Portugal centre-back warns his team-mates that they would be wise not to underestimate their opponents in Friday's World Cup 2014 qualifying match in Ramat Gan

Portugal defender Pepe is taking nothing for granted as his team prepares for Friday's World Cup qualifier against Israel in Ramat Gan.

Paulo Bento's side currently trail the Middle Eastern nation in Group F and, while the Real Madrid defender stressed that there is still a long way to go, he has warned his side not to underestimate their opponents.

"It is not the deciderbecause we have othercrucialgamesand Russiahave yet toplayin Portugal.Butis it reallyan important game," he told reporters.

"We want to beat the World Cupand,within the group, we believe we can do it and do not want to contemplate another possibility.

"It's animportantgame,we haveto be very focused.It will be difficultbutwe will try towin. I have never playedin Israelbut I knowsome players fromtheir team,especiallyplayingin Spain,are very good.

"We have toimpose ourstyle andexperience and takethis gameseriously."

The Brazil-born star played at the World Cup in 2010 and he admits that it would mean a great deal to him personally to feature in his homeland in two years' time.

"The realspecial meaningfor mewouldbeto reach my secondWorld CupwithPortugal.It is important that it is in Brazil."

The centre-back also voiced his hope that Joao Moutinho would recover from a knock to feature against the Israelis, declaring: "He is partof the group,is a great playerand I hopehe's okay."